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University of Cape Town

Education for All: Disability, Diversity and Inclusion

University of Cape Town via FutureLearn

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Overview

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Learn practical strategies for making education inclusive

Millions of children around the world are excluded from access to education because of a disability - robbing them of their potential and diminishing our society.

On this course you will learn about inclusive education, understanding what barriers there are to learning and how to challenge them. Over six weeks you will learn from a range of people with experience of disability, discovering practical ways to create a more inclusive learning environment that you can apply in your own area.

Join us and help create a world where learning is for all children.

The course has been created for teachers, other professionals and parents interested in developing inclusive education.

If you are part of a community wanting to develop inclusive education in a school, you could form a group to support each other’s learning and try out inclusive strategies. We will provide additional resources and ideas for those wanting to implement inclusive education practices, especially in low resource settings.

Syllabus

  • Why Inclusion?
    • Welcome and introduction
    • Using the course and introduction to contributors
    • Why inclusive education?
    • The rights of children with disabilities
    • Chioma's wrap-up
  • Education begins at home
    • Introduction to Week 2
    • Understanding the role of families
    • Building a home-school partnership
    • Chioma's wrap-up
  • Creating an inclusive school
    • Introduction to Week 3
    • Assessing a school's capacity for inclusion
    • What would it take to make your school inclusive?
    • Chioma's wrap-up
  • Community partnerships for success
    • Community education
    • Working with different stakeholders
    • A resourceful community
    • Chioma's wrap-up
  • Changing classroom practices
    • Introduction to Week 5
    • Teaching with a difference
    • Including Sinethemba
    • Chioma's wrap-up
  • Building networks
    • Building networks
    • Working together
    • Mapping your social capital
    • Chioma's wrap-up and final words

Reviews

4.8 rating, based on 101 Class Central reviews

4.7 rating at FutureLearn based on 228 ratings

Start your review of Education for All: Disability, Diversity and Inclusion

  • Phenyo Koka
    This course is useful for my present career as an educator, more especially since we are aiming at putting to practice an Inclusive Education. There are videos and articles available on the site to simplify the contents for this course. I was able to reflect back to real life situations, and this helped me follow.

    I have learned that learners need to be supported and catered for according to their various abilities, by everyone in the community. No learner should be disadvantaged because of their physical or mental abilities.

    I am grateful, I have taken this course. Thank you!!

    Phenyo Koka
  • Anonymous
    This has been an encouraging and motivating course in which I have enjoyed listening to different people from many different countries and cultures talk about their life, experiences and pieces of advice to put into practice. All this has helped me understand more about disabilities and how different schools face it. It will definitely make a difference in my teaching. I am sure I will have a chance to use the material and resources we have been given in this course. A great message to pass around is that about how all members in a community can change things by collaborating. Thank you
  • Anonymous
    This course has inspired my learning curiosity in wanting to make a difference at my place of work. Whilst we do have some sort of inclusive educational approach, I am not sure exactly how the provision is run or how effective it is etc.,
    I would like to make a difference in teaching ICT at the lower levels of learning - inclusivity is going to take time, looking at the current structure, speaking to tutors etc., I am currently studying for my MA in Education and I think I would like to incorporate something to do with inclusive learning as part of my dissertation.
    Thank you very much.
  • Anonymous
    I took up this course because I am passionate about working towards inclusiveness. I found the entire course to be very enriching and have learnt quit a deal about the specifics that I never knew about. I am glad I was given opportunities to share my experiences throughout the course in the discussion forum. I was also able to read comments by other students. It was interesting to learn from their experiences as well. The assignments were opportunities for me to apply my understanding and skills learnt during the course and at the same time reflect on my experiences. The entire course provides wonderful and enriching learning experiences. I loved it. Very satisfying for me.

    Thanks a lot. Good luck!
  • Anonymous
    Through out this course I have reflected on my own practices within my classroom, with peer educators, and stakeholders/the community at large. I have refreshed knowledge about so much that I had forgotten. This course further reinforced my need to…
  • Anonymous
    I found this course to be very informative. I like the idea of sharing resources and information in order to offer the best to our students thus enabling them to stay in mainstream schools with the knowledge that they will have the best chance to learn. At the beginning of the course, I very much felt that it was in the childs best interest to go to a specialist school if the teachers in a mainstream school weren't trained to teach them and adapt to their abilities. However after taking into consideration that we are all in fact still learning, it is possible , with the right support to be able to give those children an enriched learning experience.
  • Anonymous
    A very well done course. It helps focusing the inclusion theme from many points of view. The materials are rich and diverse. The assesments are challenging and interesting.
    I liked the idea of seeing lessons realized in Africa. There were examples and interviews from India and Canada, too.
    There a many tips for teachers and the most important thing you learn is that if we understand the importance of inclusion, it's the greatest step towards it.
  • Anonymous
    A great course. A greeat reminder of life-long learning. A course that reminds us as a society on how valuable each person is regardless of one's being whether on is able or disabled, we all should be included rather than excluded from childhood starting with education. This course is a great capacity building platform for teachers and communities on how they can be agents of including those who are mostly marginalised in our society. This inclusion later leads to the marginalised later in life becoming independent and successful members of societies.
  • Shavaughn Brooks
    This course was really great - It was easy to follow and was filled with lots of useful resources, videos, documents, links and more!
    I really enjoyed the interaction with other attendees and the opportunity to ask the lecturers questions.
    It also stimulates action towards a more inclusive environment in your own community and in that way enables you to create change in your area!
    I highly recommend it to parents, teachers, therapists, headmasters and anyone involved in Inclusive Education!
  • Really great course. Ih has been Very informative and a eal eye opener for even an experienced teacher. It clarified so many doubts I had had which my teacher training never even touched on. ...And this course was only 6 weeks long. I would encourage anyone interested in learning the ESSENTIAL basics of inclusive education practices to take this course.
  • Louise Connolly
    I thoroughly enjoyed and really benefitted from taking this course. It has really opened my eyes to the big picture, that Inclusive Education, really is about engaging all the players from individuals to organizations and institutions bringing them together to share goals, aspirations and will to create a society where everyone is valued and given an opportunity to contribute. Thank you!
  • Anonymous
    Great course, very informative and comprehensive. Discussed the concept of disability, the role of the community, school, teacher and family, and then followed with practical advice.
  • Anonymous
    Excellent. I have gained so much knowledge and can't wait to implement all that I have learned. Thank you... I'll be back for more!
  • Anonymous
    I have learned so much in the past few weeks. This course has opened my eyes to social inclusion and the challenges as well as the solutions that comes with it. The resources and insights shared was phenomenal. Great course. Thank you
  • Anonymous
    This was an inspiring and very practical course on structuring educational systems in such a way that all children can benefit. instead of fitting children into the educational system, educational systems should be flexible enough to accommodate each child, even those with barriers to learning. Emphasis was placed on the family, school and classroom, and also on the role of the greater community and policy makers. The focus was on communities with few resources, stressing that attitude is more important than resources.
  • Profile image for Sarah Oosthuizen
    Sarah Oosthuizen
    Thorough - with enough academic credibility and research, balanced with real-life stories and practical application. An excellent course, and designed to create action beyond the academics. Can highly recommend it!
  • Anonymous
    This course was thoroughly enjoyable. The content was well set out. The tutors were very knowledgeable and explained everything in full detail. It highlighted the process of inclusion and the importance of working together to provide inclusive education. There were useful techniques and talks from persons own experiences. The interaction with the challenges helped put things into context and enabled you to interact with other learners and gain feedback.
  • Jibbs Bigas
    This course has helped me a lot to better understand inclusive education and the importance of respecting diversity in school. It is very useful on my part as a teacher because I was able to apply what I have learnt in this course. I was able to share what I have learned to my co-teachers and educate the parents in our school about the importance of inclusivity. I thanked the whole people behind this course because it is very helpful and insightful.
  • Anonymous
    Natarajan Muthiah

    This course is designed in such a way to address the challenges faced by the children with disabilities. How the inclusive education helps the special children to achieve their learning objectives are discussed in detail with experts' lecture and interview. The references are given properly. I could learn many novel ideas and strategies through this course. I am extremely happy to be a learner of this course.
  • Anonymous
    although this course is based around inclusive learning in underprivileged communities a large proportion of the content and ideas can be used in any community setting whether that is schools, higher education or community groups and activities

    it was set out in easy sections, clear and understandable language and all resources used within each section were referenced at the end for further study

    highly recommended

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